How Journalists can Better Explain why Black Women Vote the way They do

Subramaniam "Subbu" Vincent is the director of Journalism & Media Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, and a monthly contributor at Forbes. He tweets from @subbuvincent and @jmethics. Views are his own.

This article, "How Journalists can Better Explain why Black Women Vote the way They do" originally appeared on Forbes.com and is reprinted with permission.

The outpouring of stories and discussions on the U.S. election results have not addressed one question. Black women have consistently voted for the Democratic party for decades. This election was no different, with the Democratic Party and Kamala Harris getting 90% of their votes. But why did the affordability crisis, misinformation, immigration chaos, and treasury-draining endless wars not split the Black women’s vote? Why do Black women, even more than Black men, show consistency and resilience? Journalists need to take the time to explain Black women voters to fellow Americans.

Looking at Black women as a voter category and the sheer percentages in favor of one party may imply blind loyalty. But the picture that emerges from Black women themselves is a deeper history of how democratic culture and hard-won voting rights have been built in America.

Civic duty and the stakes to protect hard-won progress

Christine Slaughter, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at Boston University researches Black Americans in the context of resilience against adversity. With Chaya Crowder and Christina Greer, she co-authored a recent paper that refers to Black women as keepers of American democracy The researchers found that Black women are motivated by civic duty to vote in elections and perceive voting as an effective tool to have their voice heard. Slaughter acknowledges that Black women show greater affiliation with the Democratic Party and identify as strong Democrats, but adds that the picture is more complicated. “Not all Black women hold favorable views toward Democratic candidates,” she writes.

Remaya Campbell, founding director of the Multilateral Project Against Extremism (mPAX) and appointee to the Washington D.C. Homeland Security Commission argues that Black women are more affected by economic insecurity than almost any other demographic, but even so, the economic anxiety argument does not fly with them.

Black women are acutely aware of daily economic markers—the cost of bread, of milk, of eggs, of gas, etc., says Campbell. “And yet they were not swayed by the economic promises of the Trump campaign, or convinced to abandon their interest in justice, bodily autonomy, the pursuit of equality and the character of America’s leadership in favor of their economic anxieties,” she says.

Campbell admits that research hasn’t shown that Black women or men are inherently less susceptible to disinformation than other groups. “However, which narratives resonate can vary greatly based on lived experiences and historical realities,” she points out. She cites the example of how Black women view President-elect Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric claiming immigrants take “Black jobs.” It ultimately held little weight for Black communities because we are “well aware that our employment opportunities have long been hindered by systemic discrimination—immigrants or no immigrants,” she says.

“For Black women, the stakes go beyond immediate economic pain—they’re voting to safeguard hard-won progress and prevent future harm,” says Tracie Powell, CEO of the Pivot Fund, and a leader in philanthropic efforts to increase racial equity and diversity in the news media. She argues that the votes of Black women reflect a broader understanding that true economic security is tied to policies that protect rights, dignity, and opportunities for everyone.

Powell traces the resilience of Black women to their long history of political engagement rooted in advocating for policies that uplift their communities and protect civil rights. It is this backdrop, Powell says, that informs “the unique perspective that Black women have on economic issues.”

Solidarity

A second factor emerged in my conversations: solidarity. Campbell says that on the Sunday after the election she hosted a dinner for eight of her Black women friends to debrief. They discussed how to take care of one another and our community during the Trump administration, she says. “I think Black women have a deep sense of camaraderie and shared destiny. There’s this sense that not only do we need each other, but we are the ones we can trust to care about our wellbeing,” she notes.

Idalin Bobé is a working class, Black and Puerto Rican single mom from North Philadelphia, and an organizer with the Poor People’s Campaign. Her experiences are consistent with views from Powell and Campbell, and validate the complex findings in Slaughter’s paper. Bobé cautions against viewing Black women's support for the Democratic Party as blind loyalty.

“I have a daughter. As a working class woman, I want her rights to be honored. My mom was born before the Voting Rights Act of 1965. So I'm the first generation born with all of my rights,” Bobé says. She then brings all of the complexity of her voting for Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party into our conversation. She says she originally planned on voting for a third party. The “Democratic party sounds like the Republican party,” she says in a disappointed tone, but she changed her mind because of her assessment of Trump’s platform.

And like Campbell, Bobé attests to solidarity and community amongst Black women. “We have a lot of pride in the little that we have. There's a lot of pride in not protecting it for our own, but taking care of our community and making sure everyone is safe and treated with dignity. And I think that's why Black women continue to show up for the Democratic Party even though it has lost some of its values,” says Bobé.

The everyday togetherness in experiences adds up. “I have a group of Black women that I walk my dog with. We're walking our dogs together and we're talking politics. There are teachers in our group. There are restaurant servers in our group, and we're talking about day-to-day matters for most of this election,” says Bobé.

Media needs to intersect race and gender

The news media often fails to take an intersectional approach when it comes to issues of gender and race, treating those as separate, distinct, categories when in reality it is much more dynamic, according to Vivien Leung, an assistant professor of political science at Santa Clara University. Their research focuses on race and ethnic politics, Asian American politics, and voter behavior.

Specifically for women of color, Leung notes that the media needs to seriously consider that race and gender are inseparable. “The media often frames Black voters as Black men, and women voters as white. Black women, and to a certain extent other women of color, are often treated with a racial lens first. The media rarely talks about how Latinas are more Democratic than Latinos (instead the focus is typically on Latino male voting behavior),” says Leung.

In sum, one lesson for the news media is to help fellow Americans understand the history that Black women bring to the ballot box when they vote. Our stories need to recognize that there is a profound sense of intergenerational solidarity and civic duty amongst Black women, fostered through the passing down of history from the civil rights era, shared everyday experiences, conversations, and a sense of collective responsibility.